{"id":273,"date":"2018-10-26T15:10:10","date_gmt":"2018-10-26T15:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jcjc.edu\/jcnews\/?p=273"},"modified":"2018-10-26T15:10:10","modified_gmt":"2018-10-26T15:10:10","slug":"state-historical-marker-unveiled-at-jones-college-honors-1955-jr-rose-bowl-football-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jcjc.edu\/jcnews\/news\/state-historical-marker-unveiled-at-jones-college-honors-1955-jr-rose-bowl-football-team\/","title":{"rendered":"State Historical Marker unveiled at Â鶹ֱ²¥; honors 1955 Jr. Rose Bowl football team"},"content":{"rendered":"

ELLISVILLE \u2013 Before a handful of the remaining Jones County Junior College football team members that made history on December 10, 1955, a historical marker honoring the special occasion was unveiled during Homecoming festivities. The bold act by college officials allowing the first all-white athletic team from Mississippi to cross racial barriers and play an integrated team is now officially recognized by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History with a historical marker located on the Jones campus in a rose garden. Accepting the invitation to the Jr. Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California to play Compton (California) Community College was an exciting honor for the Bobcat football team that got mixed up in politics.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis group of men faced the spotlight they had no intention of being a part of; they just wanted to play football,\u201d said Â鶹ֱ²¥ President, Dr. Jesse Smith, as the historical marker was unveiled. \u201cIt is an honor to share this signature moment in the history of the college that goes back to 1955, and the impact it has had on our state and college is remarkable. I will look back at that time as a defining moment in our college\u2019s history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Members of the team have gathered regularly on campus and have been honored as their story has been shared for more than 60 years. Seeing the state officially recognize this monumental occasion with a historical marker has taken on a new meaning for the former players.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means an awful lot to us,\u201d said Sidney \u201cBuck\u201d Anderson who came to Jones on a football scholarship as a Petal High School graduate. \u201cWe were aware of the tensions, but Coach Jim Clark told us, \u2018Boys, you understand we have a chance to play at the Jr. Rose Bowl. How many of you want to go?\u2019 We all wanted to go! It was unanimous! We were undefeated and they thought we were good enough to play at this prestigious event,\u201d said Anderson.<\/p>\n

Teammate, John Bishop, formerly of Ellisville, added he\u2019s always been proud to be a Bobcat and this recognition of history makes him even prouder.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur governor tried to tell us we weren\u2019t going. However, the college president, J.B. Young made me proud to be a Bobcat because he kept his promise despite the pressure to keep us from participating,\u201d said Bishop.<\/p>\n

The historical marker reads, \u201cJCJC president, J.B. Young stood firm against statewide opposition to the school\u2019s participation, saying that he gave his word the Bobcats would play.\u201d As the sign explained, JCJC also faced threats of losing state and local funding.\u00a0 However, Young was more concerned about keeping a promise than the threats. JC President Dr. Smith sums up the importance of Young\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cIt\u2019s a telling thing when you play a ballgame and lose, and still come out to be one of the best winners in Mississippi\u2019s history.\u00a0 I\u2019m thankful for that,\u201d said Smith.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ELLISVILLE \u2013 Before a handful of the remaining Jones County Junior College football team members that made history on December 10, 1955, a historical marker honoring the special occasion was unveiled during Homecoming festivities. The bold act by college officials allowing the first all-white athletic team from Mississippi to cross racial barriers and play an … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “State Historical Marker unveiled at Â鶹ֱ²¥; honors 1955 Jr. Rose Bowl football team”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":274,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jcjc.edu\/jcnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jcjc.edu\/jcnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jcjc.edu\/jcnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jcjc.edu\/jcnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jcjc.edu\/jcnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.jcjc.edu\/jcnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":277,"href":"https:\/\/www.jcjc.edu\/jcnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273\/revisions\/277"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jcjc.edu\/jcnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jcjc.edu\/jcnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jcjc.edu\/jcnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jcjc.edu\/jcnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}